The December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which could have been prevented by adequate security, was followed by a severely flawed investigation, according to the report of the United Nations independent investigation released to correspondents at Headquarters press conference this afternoon.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Urging reporters in New York to “keep the focus on Haiti”, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today said that “although commendable progress has been made, the situation remains dire” three months after the massive earthquake that killed nearly 250,000 people, left 1 million others homeless and levelled the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Barbados today announced the nomination of Senator and former Energy and Environment Minister Elizabeth Thompson as its candidate for Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, bringing to five the number of countries that have so far nominated candidates for the same position: Costa Rica; South Africa; India; and Indonesia.
Following extraordinary intergovernmental cooperation in containing the human and animal influenza threats of the past several years, the focus was now on maintaining momentum even as such threats dropped from the news, the Senior United Nations System Influenza Coordinator said today.
An intensive focus on maternal health could boost the achievement of all international development goals, a panel of high Government and United Nations officials said as they kicked off a new global initiative this afternoon.
Improving resource mobilization, international cooperation, and national ownership were the main priorities of the upcoming five-year review of the Peacebuilding Commission, its Chairman said this afternoon.
With chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes responsible for 60 per cent of all annual deaths worldwide, tackling the global burden of such non-communicable diseases had become one of the major challenges for development in the twenty-first century, a senior World Health Organization official said today.
Emerging forms of crime, such as environmental crime, cybercrime and piracy, were expected to figure alongside “traditional” forms of crime, such as bribery and money-laundering, in discussions during the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, John Sandage, Executive Secretary, said at a press briefing today.
With the same players employing, with limited results, the same stale tactics to end long-standing conflicts or diffuse simmering tensions, “we believe peace processes could benefit from fresh ideas [and] an innovative cultural shift,” said Columbia University graduate student Gal Bar Dea today as he previewed the first conference of the United Nations-backed SPIRIT initiative.
Reviews of major peacekeeping and peace-building efforts, as well as a members’ mission to Africa, will be among the most significant activities of the Security Council in April, the permanent representative of Japan said today.